You are no doubt reading this article because you are wondering what on earth that dpupdchk.exe process is doing in your Task Manager window… there’s no description and it just keeps coming back. So what is it anyway?

This process is some type of automatic update checker from Microsoft IntelliPoint (as far as we can tell), but here’s how we actually diagnosed it…

First, if you are using Vista you can right-click on the process and choose to Open File Location.

…which will open up the containing folder, so you can drill down into exactly what the file is by looking at the properties. Unfortunately, this process just has zero information in the properties dialog… shame on you, Microsoft!

Further investigation led me into the registry, and by using the Process Monitor utility from Sysinternals I was able to determine that the process was querying a registry key named “Intellipoint Pro Auto Update”… a clear giveaway that this process has to do with updating of some type.

Then there’s also the fact that in the start menu is a shortcut using a similar icon that says Check for Updates. It’s one of those special shortcuts that you can’t see the target for… one has to wonder why they bothered to make this so complicated.

Dear Microsoft: If you are reading this article, perhaps you might leave a comment and shed some light on what it’s really doing. Then you might want to start learning how to document things.

How Do I Get Rid of It?

Keep in mind that removing pieces of Microsoft software without fully understanding what they are is probably a bad idea and shouldn’t be attempted by anybody under any circumstances ever, even slightly, probably.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way… here’s where we stand: You can take one of two routes to get rid of it:

The problem is that if you delete the dpupdchk.exe file, every single time you open the mouse panel you will get horrible errors. Since we like to avoid horrible errors, I’ve created a dummy executable that does nothing at all, which you can replace the current one with.

First, browse down to the following folder (adjusting if necessary for your install path).

Once you’ve renamed that file, replace it with this fake dpupdchk.exe file created by the fine folks here at How-To Geek. It’s a blank executable that does nothing, but feel free to scan it with at least 74 anti-virus engines if you’d like to make sure.

Lowell HeddingsLowell is the founder and CEO of How-To Geek. He’s been running the show since creating the site back in 2006. Over the last decade, Lowell has personally written more than 1000 articles which have been viewed by over 250 million people. Read Full Bio »